“Oh, duh. Makes sense.” She nodded and he let her lead the way down the corridor in the direction they’d come toward the main atrium. Operators were filing through the doorway, some of them sweaty and stinking of gunpowder having finished up in the shooting house.

Yael hugged the side of the hall as the wall of testosterone streamed past them into the classroom. Some of the men glanced at her with obvious interest and Shane tried not to feel territorial. He and Yael worked together. He never got involved with people he worked with. Too much room for conflict. Except this was temporary…she wasn’t in HRT. She wasn’t even in the FBI.

Maybe after this was all over…

He pushed the thoughts aside. Finding the serial killer who’d boobytrapped that crime scene and murdered his best friend was his priority. Not dating. He leaned over the desk and asked Maddie Goodwin who was the main receptionist and gatekeeper to the front office if she could find someone to escort Yael to the gate.

“Of course.” The woman was usually cheerful but right now she looked pale.

His stomach clenched. Something bad had happened.

“What is it?” he asked her quietly.

She glanced sideways at the bosses who marched out of the backroom and refused to answer him. Shane felt a shiver of apprehension slice down his spine. It had to be really bad if the top dogs were attending this impromptu team meeting. Operators from Red and Blue teams who were on base also headed inside.

Shit.

“Come this way, Yael, I’ll walk you out. Sorry for the chaos.” Maddie’s smile was forced as she came around the counter, giving Shane a tense expression that said he wasn’t going to like what he was about to hear.

“See you tomorrow.” Shane called to Yael, but she’d already started to walk away, clearly recognizing something important was going down and that he needed to be in that room right now.

He tried to force her out of his mind. If she was in danger, she should be safe enough on base. He hated the push-pull of his thoughts though. The genuine concern that EG might target her, balanced against the insidious disquiet that someone on the task force might be dirty.

It was a stretch to think that that someone might be Yael, but Shane wasn’t ready to discount anything when it came to the man who’d murdered his best friend. Not yet.

He shook his head and moved into the classroom. Found a spot on the wall next to Novak.

“What’s up?” Shane asked.

“Don’t know but it can’t be good.”

Could be anything from a major terror attack to an impromptu training exercise designed to keep them on the tips of their tactical boots. Could be a prison riot or a nuclear threat or the lead up to the next world war.